1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an image forming system including an image forming device and a wrap bookbinding device which is a post-processing device of the image forming device, and relates to a printing control method and a program for use in the image forming system.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are some post-processing devices (finishers) of image forming devices which have various functions to be in conformity with the user's needs. Among such devices, there is known a wrap bookbinding device which creates separate volumes from an original document. In each of the volumes created, a batch of recording sheets on which the text is printed is arranged, paste is applied to the back of the batch, the front, the spine, and the back of the batch are wrapped with a cover sheet including a front cover, a spine cover, and a back cover, and the back of the batch is bonded to the back of the spine cover.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2001-205857 discloses an image forming system in which a cover including a front cover, a spine cover, and a back cover is produced concurrently with the time of printing of the text, the width of the spine cover is computed in accordance with the thickness (or width) of a batch of document sheets and the number of prints thereof, and the width (or size) of each of the front cover and the back cover is equal to the width (or size) of a document sheet.
In this manner, it is necessary that the width of a cover sheet used in the wrap bookbinding is as large as a sum of the double of the width of a document sheet and the width of a spine cover.
Conversely, in an image forming device using standard-sized sheets, the thickness of a batch of recording sheets which can be wrapped in the wrap bookbinding is considerably restricted by the size of the recording sheet used.
As disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2001-205857, the image forming system in which the maximum sheet size is the enlarged A3 size (305 mm×457 mm), the size of a document sheet which can be wrapped with a cover of a recording sheet having the maximum sheet size is limited to A4, B5, etc. Moreover, when the document sheet used in this image forming system is of the A4 size, the width of a spine cover must be smaller than 37 mm (=457 mm−2×210 mm).
For this reason, when the thickness of a batch of recording sheets exceeds 37 mm, it is impossible to output a single volume from the original document as desired by the user. To avoid the problem, it is conceivable that the original document is divided into separate volumes and the volumes are output.
However, if the volumes are simply created, the relationship of the volumes is not apparent from the appearance thereof, and it is difficult to provide ease of inspection for the volumes.